Most of the emails you get from professionals are business email addresses. So it stands to reason that anyone with a business should set up a business email, which usually consists of a person’s name at their company’s domain name. For example: name@businessname.com
Why an email address is good for your business
A business email shows professionalism and you’re immediately communicating to the people you interact with that your emails are legitimate. Once you finish creating a professional email, you can use it to set up your social media, hosting plan, and any other accounts you may need.
When you have an official business email, every email you send is a reminder of your business branding and website. This not only applies to you but all of your employees as well. When you use a business email address you’ll be instantly recognisable to your customer - even if they don’t know you personally. Any trust or awareness they have of your brand will be extended to you.
Most people expect to be able to reach someone from a company using a business email address. When your business email is intuitive to figure out, then you make it easier for people to get in touch when they have a question or concern. When your email address uses the same domain as your website, then your customers will know that you’re not spamming them.
How to create a business email
STEP 1: Register your domain
Your domain name is the URL people will type into a browser to reach your website. Registering your domain name will both ensure you own the domain you want your website to be at, and provide you with the domain that will become the last part of your business email address.
STEP 2: Sign up for web hosting
You must do this to access the tools you need to create an email address for the domain you registered. This is also a necessary element for getting your website online.
STEP 3: Set up naming conventions for your business
If you’re on your own then you just need to figure out what your email business email will be. If you have employees, then you must take some time to figure out what you want business emails for your company to look like.
STEP 4: Follow instructions from your hosting provider
The details of this next step will look a little different depending on who you choose for hosting, although they follow the same general process.
STEP 5: Choose your mail client
Now that your business email is created, it’s time to decide where and how you’ll access it. Your web hosting account will come with a basic webmail option, which generally comes free with a web hosting plan. Most people will prefer to have emails forwarded to a third-party email client. A few popular options for email clients include G Suite, Office 365, and others.
5.1 Gmail/G Suite
While using Gmail for your business email does require a small monthly fee, a G Suite subscription comes with more than Gmail access. You will also have access to Google Apps including Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, and Google Hangouts.
5.2 Office 365
Like G Suite, Office 365 combines an intuitive email interface (Outlook) with a number of features including cloud-based access to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
5.3 Mac Mail
For Apple users, Mac Mail is the built-in mail client on your computer.
STEP 6: Set up your name and image
You can personalise how you show up in people’s inboxes further by adding your name and photo to your business email account. The details for doing this will depend on the email client you chose.
STEP 7: Add an email signature
A good email signature will include a polite sign-off, your name, a link to your website, and the best contact information for reaching you. This ensures that this information will show up at the end of every email you send, making it easy for customers and business contacts to find it when they need it.
